Kumaraparvatha aka Pushpagiri trek, the most common trek and definitely tougher than the Green route trek.
My journey started with just Vijay as my only companion from Bangalore boarding the 11pm Somvarpet KSRTC bus. My another friend who was supposed to join the trek backed off due to health reasons and we had another ticket which luckily sold it to a fellow passenger. We saw another group of trekkers in the bus so both of us were happy. Reached Somvarpet at 5.30 and had breakfast at the bus stop restaurant. I got an surprised baked cockroach as a complimentary :P There were at least 25+ trekkers walking around to catch the 7:15am bus to Bidalli. Few didn't want to waste time and they hired a jeep or some other transport.
Me ,Vijay and few other trekkers took this bus which dropped us off at Bidalli bus stop around 8:30am.
From here it's pretty simple to reach the forest office (check point 1). Just take the straight road and after a while ahead towards your left you find a bridge, take this bridge and walk on the uphill road road which takes you through some ginger fields and a few farmers who are not at all surprised to see you. A little more uphill walk and you'll find a Shiva temple.
People here were a lot annoying, they chased us away from the compound telling this place is temple and not a resort bla bla...
We took off almost immediately and reached the forest office by 10:15am. The forest official here Mr.Indu is the most humble govt official I've ever met, he told us about the water resources available and was very helpful to plan our way. We paid 200rs per head as the forest entry continued our trek.
Had a quick bite on Chapathi's and left this place refilling our water cans. I didn't find any good water resources till the peak after the forest office coz you're gaining altitude from this point on... just one or two small streaks on the way but i guess it might dry up soon before summer sets in.
We carried enough water which would suffice for two days..more than 3ltrs each.
The only wildlife we encountered :D lol
Directions are neatly marked for trekkers and there's no possibility of loosing our way in the woods.
Me and Vijay had constant company of many other fellow trekkers.. so never felt that were only two of us. Many first timers to KP like me struggling to climb/trek...This part of the journey had enough shade to protect us from the sun..Till the peak it's shady so it's not all that very tiring.
A few minutes before reaching the peak we had to climb a couple of 60-70degree inclined rocks. This is a little tiring and strenuous, especially when you have so much load on your backs.
At around 2:30 we reached the peak, the peak greeted us with lots lots of burnt firewood, plastics and garbage thrown all around.
We had made friends with a another group or rather mee and Vijay were already a part of that group. We became good friends by later part of the day. We had to pitch our tents quickly on the best place available coz many trekkers would reach here by 4or later. We pitched our tents and gathered firewood before it 6 and our night on one of the highest peak was just about to begin.
The sunset was amazing here...try and explore this area as much as possible here before sunset, you can get some very good views of the western ghats. It appears more beautiful from a few spots. But be careful as it's only loose gravel/rocks at the edges..
We had maggi and settled to chat by the firewood...Plenty of firewood was available to keep the fire going through t the night but we had to just search around and pile it up before dark. It was fun chatting with all the other guys, it was wonderful to have met such fun loving people. Thanks a lot to Pradeep, praveen, Guru, Manju and the others..
By 9 me and Vijay were fast asleep to be woken up by the cold shivery winds after 11pm. Regretted for not getting our own tents we then made it a point to carry our tents for the next trek onwards. Our friends Pradeep and party were more than happy to share their tents with both of us. It was much much better inside..Set the alarm to 5.30 so as not to miss the sunrise we fell asleep again..
5:45AM is the best scenery you get to see from this peak ...the most amazing part of the trek is this very view(pre-sunrise)
There were at least more than a 100 trekkers when we woke up to see the sunrise.. the locals had told us that there was no place to camp the week before we went (for the new year's eve). Having clicked enough photos we soon packed our stuff and set off before the sun slows us down...
From here on most part of our journey was without any shade, with the sun ferociously beating you down. The only water source till battaramane is mantap. There was one small stream available but it was heavily crowded and we decided not to stop at it. amazing views till you reach the forest office/Bhattramane. Appreciated ourselves to have carried enough water. Thanks to the numerous blogs which warned us to carry enough water.
A few spectacular views during sunrise and while descending from the peak..
Finally we reached a house, i was so so excited and relaxed but it was only the forest office..Bhatta's house is just a stone throw away from this place..Reached Bhatta's house at 11:30 around and had yummy Uppit, sour bitter refreshing Majjige(Butter milk) and relaxed till 1. The Bhatta(below pic) is a best example of self dependency. He just has a farm in middle of a forest, his only income is through the trekkers(a nominal 60rs is charged for buffet breakfast or lunch or dinner which i feel is very nominal). Seemed to be a very nice guy and never kept any count of any people who ate or who paid or not...hats off to the kind of trust he's kept in the trekkers. Hope the other trekkers maintain it this way...Bhatta travels everyday to Kukke by foot(yes! he travels everyday by foot) which is 90min walk for him and thrice as much for us(beginners like me).
The Bhattara mane and the famous Bhatta
Since me and Vijay had no reserved tickets from Kukke to Bangalore, we had to hurry up and find a bus/book tickets asap. Thanking the Bhatta and our friends we left the place. I was slowing down due to bad knee and soon the other trekkers overtook me...the pain was bad but i dint want to pop a pain killer which would've made things much easier. I kept pushing myself with just water and chocolates.
Finally we reached Kukke at 4 and all the KSRTC bus had left, the next KSRTC to Bangalore was at 7pm. The private bus was our only chance to reach Bangalore before midnight. Though we knew these dirty private services are never prompt, we still had no other go. He promised us that the bust would leave by 4:30 or a max of 4:45. Soon we realized that he had kept postponing the departure by 30min to every person who came (4:30 to us, 5to a few, 5:30 to the others)..finally I lost patience and at 5pm me with a few others charged on this guy and finally the bus left at 5:30.
I was so annoyed with this bus..seriously never trust these private buses.. they don't move until every inch in the bus is occupied. We took the "KukkeSheree travels" the most unfaithful transport service.
Reached Bangalore at 12:30 (promised was 11pm).
With badly hurting knee i reached home at 1:15am by a rick(who charged thrice as much).
The KP is undoubtedly going to be one of my best treks. There's so much to the Western Ghats and i'm simply loving them... My next trek would be Bababudangiri and hopefully i make it before end of Feb.
A piece of advice to other trekkers planning to KP would be to carry enough water. We were prepared so the trek went well as expected.
Good luck to the the future trekkers and hope this was at least a little helpful. Leave a comment and i'd be happy to help you guys if need any.
:)
